Improving Password Hashing with Random Salt
Question:
While using a hashed password method (sha512(password.salt)) seems more secure than a simple MD5 hash, some concerns arise:
Answer:
Despite the attacker's potential access to the salt, the security of the password hashing method remains intact.
Purpose of Salt:
The salt adds entropy to the hash, making brute-force attacks more challenging. Without salt, an attacker can use pre-computed "rainbow tables" to quickly and easily obtain the plaintext password from the hash.
Defense Against Brute Force Attacks:
By introducing a unique, random salt for each password, it becomes impractical for attackers to create rainbow tables due to the overwhelming number of possibilities. This increases the computational time and resources required for a successful brute-force attack.
Overcoming Concerns:
Mandatory Protection:
In today's computing landscape, employing these password hashing mechanisms is crucial. The availability of powerful cloud-based resources makes brute-force attacks more feasible and necessitates robust security measures to protect user passwords effectively.
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